Postgame Coach Tom Coughlin - 12/23

Coach Tom Coughlin reflects on the loss to the Baltimore Ravens

Coughlin: I thought our week was a good week. I thought last night our meetings were well done. I think we came in here and we tried hard. We worked hard at it. We obviously have a very bad formula going on right here. We’re having trouble stopping people and our offense doesn’t hold the ball at all to give our defense a chance to catch their breath. We’ve had two games in a row, pretty much the exact same scenario, with 47 offensive snaps last week, 41 this week. The other guy had double, almost 40 minutes time of possession. As I told the players, it’s a very difficult time for all of us. I take full responsibility for this team. I am the head coach. What has happened over the course of the last couple of weeks is very difficult to explain. We had a resounding win against New Orleans and felt real good about ourselves, and then I have no explanation as to why we’re in the position that we’re in. We’re playing a lot of people, we’re putting a lot of people in positions where they need to make plays and frankly, right now, we’re not making any. We’re not making any plays on defense. We didn’t make any plays necessarily on special teams, although we did a pretty good job of controlling a very, very good returner [Jacoby Jones], whether via kick-off returner or punt-returner—so we did a decent job of that. But that’s all. We did nothing offensively. We certainly didn’t do anything to help our cause on the defensive side of the ball either.”

On if he thinks the team deserves to make the playoffs“If we get into the playoffs, we will deserve to make it. That’s very remote right now.”

On DT Chris Canty’s injury“I don’t know exactly what it is. It’s a knee and he wasn’t able to go back. Chris Canty was playing hard and he made some plays for us.”

On the emotions down the stretch“I would stay away from that. I feel badly for everyone in that locker room because I’m sure that none of them, they can’t figure this thing out either. We don’t look like a well-oiled machine offensively at all. We’ve certainly had our struggles in and out with people, but still that’s not an excuse. We’re just a very long way from being the team that played New Orleans.”

On the Ravens’ pass protection“It wasn’t anything to do with scheme. I’d like to say it was. I think they threw, I think what they did, they came out and went strictly up-tempo. I think one series, or half of a series, we were scrambling around, but we adjusted to that tempo. I think they tried to do the same thing on the defensive side of the ball and made it that we couldn’t just go up and snap it, we had to recognize different people and identify them for pass protection, that kind of slowed us down a little bit. But other than that, they did pressure us as they were playing and they did a good job of it.”

On this year compared to other years Coughlin coached“It’s difficult, very difficult, very, very difficult. There are a lot of proud guys in that locker room that are looking to me for answers. The answers are not easy ones.”

On the defense"I wouldn’t say it’s just defense. I would have to say the offense is very far from where we’d hope to be.”

On not having a late season surge“We weren’t able to get it done. We don’t have momentum going. We came into this circumstance and we knew it very well, but we’re not playing anywhere near that type of football, and when it happened for us last year, this particular game, the 15th game, we had a spark, we really had a great spark. You want to say it was the Victor Cruz 99-yarder? Whatever it was, it really invigorated our team, and then the way that we played and we prepared ourselves for the next week, and we played very well the next week, and we gained in confidence, and we’re not a very confident group right now. It’s one of those things in any profession that you have to earn the confidence. You just don’t talk about it. Sometimes I get tired of talking, talking, talking. You do have to go on the field, by yourself, 11 of you out there, because everyone else is over here, and accomplish that. We’re certainly not doing that. Otherwise, I wouldn’t even offer an explanation.”

On if he’s satisfied with the effort“We spent a lot of time working on that type of the preparation, to get the great effort, to be in the right place mentally, no matter what happened. There were some disappointing things happening in the game, we were going to fight our way through it, and I can tell you I wasn’t disappointed in that part. I really wasn’t. We talk a lot about playing above the x’s and o’s but we’re flat-lining right now. We’re not playing anywhere near any kind of execution we want, so it’s very difficult to stay above the ‘x’s and the o’s.’ We got the third-down play that Victor Cruz made the catch there to give us the first down and allow us to push the ball in with this last touchdown. Was that a play that created a spark? Probably not.”

On his disappointment about this season compared to last“I wouldn’t even attempt to explain it. Emotionally, I probably don’t have the where-with-all to do that. You fight your whole year, literally from the time one tournament ends to the next. All your sights are on getting in this thing. You can’t make a mark for your team unless you get in it. We fought so long, and fought so hard, we had our ups and downs. We were sitting where we could determine our own fate and we let that get away from us. It’s very disappointing.”

On if it’s going to be a tough week"I don’t think so. I think there’s a lot of pride in that [locker] room. We’ll certainly have some guys nicked up that maybe the decision will be made that they wouldn’t be able to go. I don’t know about that yet. But we’ve had a lot of guys with lingering stuff that hopefully is not beyond being able to line up, but I think there’s great pride in that locker room, and we certainly all know that 9-7 is better than 8-8.”

On the playoff scenario“I’m not concerned about it really. I want to see us play well. That’s always been my thing. If we play well, give great effort and play well, everything else takes care of itself. That’s not the case right now. We’re not playing very well.”

On CB Corey Webster“He would probably be the first one to tell you that he wishes he was better.”

On confidence after the wins against the Packers and the Saints“I don’t know. That’s a very good question. I would have thought, to be honest with you—and the only thing I go back to is the New Orleans game. But to go and score 52 points, and then turn around and get shut out, and then to score 14, it’s difficult to explain. You would think that when you score those kind of points that would build great confidence, and the other guy has something to do about it too.”